coal
by animeparody
Summary: sort of sequel to Ember. homura drabbles. centered around kusanagi Izumo. Please read! i swear its not bad!
1. Chapter 1

It's a nice place. It's just like Izumo's bar. Only there's no second floor and the front door is locked. But it's fine in here.

Tatara sat on a barstool, his arms on the bar counter, replaying his memories of the bartender.

His thoughts are interrupted when the the tinkle of a bell signals the door opening and the familiar heavy footfalls cause Tatara to abruptly stand to face the person.

"You… why…"

No… no… no! Not him… he can't be here!

"Yo. You look well."

It's him.

"King… what are you doing here."

Silence.

"King! If you're here then… then you're dead!"

"Guess I am."

No… no!

"King! You can't be dead!"

Suoh's expression didn't change as Tatara's hands clutched the collar of his shirt, his soft voice becoming a yell of shock, anger and pain.

"So even you can make that type of face."

"What about Homura? Yata? Anna? Izumo? You can't leave them behind! They… they…"

Tatara's voice left him as he sank down to the floor, all his energy gone.

"Just like you left them."

I left them too… right…

The memory of Izumo's expression as he watched him die…

"I guess that makes me a hypocrite…"


	2. Chapter 2

Kusanagi Izumo doesn't often go out to drink at another bar. That much is obvious, the man owns a bar himself. But there are times when he seeks some alone time from the rest of Homura. Their rowdiness can reach rather unbearable levels at times. But his purpose for seeking solitude that night is that he wants to drink his ass off in light of Mikoto's death. And Tatara. He doesn't want to break down in front of the rest of his clan. Their spirit's broken enough as it is. At least he had anger to distract him when Tatara died. They were sad for a while but that sadness was replaced by anger the desire for vengeance. But Mikoto chose to die. They couldn't get angry at the blue king the same way they were furious at the colourless king.

Yatogami Kuroh is not one whom you would picture walking aimlessly around at night deep in sorrow. With his uptight attitude you would expect him to have an ice cold heart that rivaled Sceptre-4's Awashima Seri. But he was currently roaming the cities streets, hoping to distract himself from the sorrow that followed Isana Yashiro's death. Isana Yashiro. Also known as Adolf , the silver king. The boy was a complex person. A tale of sorrow hidden behind a mask of smiles, easygoingness and mischievousness. For someone whom he had known for such a short period of time, he felt great pain when the fact that he was dead had fully sunk in. Neko was currently at the gold kings building, the group and him having built some trust after Yashiro's death. Yashiro, as Weissman, had been a good friend of the gold kings and Neko took a liking to the kind man who would tell her tales of Shiro back in the past, and his late sister, Claudia. The aged man had said Neko resembled Claudia quite bit.

The men did not notice the other's presence, too far lost in mourning, until they quite literally crashed into each other.

"My apologies, I did not notice-"

"It's fine, I wasn't paying attention-"

Both noticed each other's identity only then, their words dying.

"The black hound, Yatogami Kuroh right?"

"You would be Homura's second in command correct? Your name…"

"Kusanagi Izumo. So, what brings you out in a night like this?"

The red clansman looked worn out, Kuroh observed. His face was slightly pale, and his eyes looked tiredness. Kuroh was prepared to claim that his sunglasses were hiding bags.

"No special reason. Just trying to clear my head."

The hound looked lost. Izumo could guess why he wanted to clear his head. He heard that the black hound had sworn loyalty to the silver king. A now dead king. Just like me, he thinks.

"How about you?"

"Eh?"

"What brings you out on this night?"

"Just seeking solitude from the rest of my clan."

The blonde man looks tired and worn, Kuroh notices. It's easy to figure out why. Suoh Mikoto's death leaves the entire of Homura at Kusanagi's hands. His king is dead. Just like mine, he thinks.

"So, your king-less too right?"

Kuroh flinches slightly before responding.

"Yes. Like you."

The hound looks lost. A good analogy would be that Yatogami Kuroh looked like a stray dog. But Izumo is rather sure the black hound will not like being likened to a stray so the bartender keeps his mouths shut.

"You wanna go drink your ass off?"

Kuroh blinks at him, ignoring the crude language the man uses, and merely states.

"I'm eighteen."

"So?"

"I'm underaged."

"Don't worry. I know a few places where they won't ask for identification. And besides, you look old enough to pass of as 21."

Kuroh shifts uncomfortably and his first thought is to politely decline.

The words that come out of his mouth however, belay the thoughts of his heart.

"Okay then."

Izumo just grins and drags the man off.

* * *

It is roughly two hours later when Yata, Bandou and Dewa find themselves running around the city looking for a potentially suicidal bartender who has seemingly forgotten to tell his worried comrades that he is going out drinking.

"Seriously? Where the hell is he?"

"Where would Kusanagi-San go at night?"

They are understandably frustrated. They are worried about Kusanagi Izumo's mental state.

Yata rounds a corner and literally crashes into a pink-haired girl.

"Nya!"

"Sorry! I wasn't looking! Are you alright?"

The girl gets up and Yata finds himself staring at mismatched eyes; one the colour of fresh grass and the other like a clear sky.

"It's fine, nya!"

The girl peers closely at Yata for a second before loudly exclaiming,

"Your the really loud person on a skateboard from the red clan!"

By that time Dewa and Bandou had joined with Yata and they warily look at the girl. If she knows about Homra, she might be from another clan.

"Neko-dono, that's Yatagarasu, Homura's vanguard. Please watch yourself. He's the third person you crashed into."

A cool voice cuts through the growing tension.

"Nya! But you're too slow Hakase!"

The trio immediately become alert when they see the golden attire of the girl's companion.

"Usagi! Then you're both from the gold clan? What are you doing here?"

The man, though he looks like a teenager, gives a small laugh at Dewa's statement.

"I am , yes, a gold clansmen but Neko-dono her is from the silver clan."

"I thought the silver king didn't have any clansmen."

"She became a silver clansmen quite recently."

"Isn't the silver king dead?"

Hakase resisted the urge to face-palm when the words left Bandou's mouth. He glances at Neko and sure enough,

"SHIRO! IS! NOT! DEAD!"

It took fifteen minutes to save Bandou from the cat strain's rage and calm her down. But she was still glaring at the hooded man.

"Ah well she is a bit, how should I say this?, touchy when it comes to the topic of Sir Weissman."

"You could say that again…"

"Now I believe we haven't had a proper introduction. I'm Hakase, Kokujyouji-sama's second in command. This is Neko, she is a cat strain from the silver clan."

"Yata Misaki from Homura, the guy Neko just mauled is Bandou Saburota and the last guy here is Dewa Masaomi."

Hakase, unlike most of the Usagi they have seen, is not wearing a mask. So they can see his polite smile falter when Neko digs her nails in his arm deeper, still glaring at Bandou but this time from behind Hakase.

"Now it seems that like us you are looking for something or someone."

"Your looking for someone? Maybe we can help each other. We're looking for Kusanagi-San."

"Kusanagi Izumo eh? We're looking for Yatogami Kuroh."

"The black hound? Why are you looking for him? Wait, he's a silver clansman ain't he?"

"Yes, he is. Yatogami Kuroh is Neko-dono's companion. She is worried as he has not returned after two hours."

The conversation is interrupted by the vibration of a PDA that Hakase extracts from his pocket.

"Hmm? Yes Akira? You found him? Good. Where? And the reason you can't break that up is? Who? Alright. I'm on my way. Just make sure the situation doesn't escalate."

Hakase pockets the PDA and addresses the waiting Homura members and a cat who is digging her nails into his arm very painfully.

"We have located Yatogami and it seems that Kusanagi Izumo is with him."

* * *

Ten minutes later they arrive at a bar, where another maskless Usagi is waiting.

"Aniue, they're in there. And they are knocking out about half of the other men whilst drunk."

"You're sure they're drunk?"

"Have you ever seen Yatogami Kuroh laughing his head off?"

Hakase and Yata walk to the window and see that half of the men are attacking and getting their butts kicked by Kuroh and Izumo while the other half is cheering. The two are right in the eye of the storm, surrounded. But it's clear that they're drunk because they're tacking their attackers out with a smile on their face whilst entertaining the crowd. Izumo sidesteps a large burly man aiming to punch his face and sends him tumbling into a table, while Kuroh dodges the men's sloppy attacks and spins around laughing. The watchers erupt in laughter and Yata can see that some are placing bets. Yata an Hakase stand transfixed, watching. There are no more opponents but the men have not stopped chanting. In fact, they are chanting louder.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

They only catch on when Izumo's punch makes contact with Kuroh's chest and Kuroh's fist slam into Izumo's arm.

* * *

Ten minutes later they have a disorientated Kuroh and a groggy Izumo in a back alley a good distance from the bar. Luckily Neko's illusion abilities was able to help them get the drunken duo out without too much trouble.

Kusanagi winced as he shifted his dislocated arm, casting an apologetic look to Kuroh, who was trying to to breathe normally with his cracked ribs. Nothing like pain to get you sober in minutes.

"Kusanagi-San, that looks really… painful."

Yata cast an uneasy glance at the limp arm.

"Don't worry… it's fine… just sec… I'm gonna try set it back…"

"Eh? Kusanagi-San? What are you-"

Crack!

A few swears escaped Izumo's lips before he firmly bites down on his tongue, pain exploding in his arm after he forcibly set back the bone.

"Kusanagi-San!"

Yata's worried yell is this time joined by Bandou and Dewa's voices.

"It's fine, it's fine!"

To prove his words he lifted his now functioning left arm.

"Okay, well it hurts like hell but at least it's still moving."

"That was really reckless!"

After roughly half an hour of scolding and reassuring, the two groups finally parted, each headed to back to their respective base of operations.

Though they met again the next day in the hospital after forcing Izumo and Kuroh to go and get their injuries check.

* * *

authors note: garhhh... i wont be updating all of my stories for sometime. why is school so hectic?


End file.
